Happy Birthday, Flickr: Web 2.0 Pioneer Turns Three

On March 3rd, Flickr turns three. Flickr is in many ways the company that helped define “Web 2.0” and was its poster child for quite some time. And Yahoo’s acquisition of Flickr, in March, 2005, after only a year in existence and, even then, a longish courtship was one of the best consumer moves Yahoo’s made in the past couple years.

Flickr and the community mindset it brought along, not to mention tagging, have been widely integrated across numerous Yahoo properties. Here’s the Business 2.0 article, “The Flickrization of Yahoo” that appeared in late 2005.

Indeed, Flickr has had a “cultural” impact on Yahoo and helped define its competitive strategy vs. Google, part of which is based on community and social media. In this realm, Yahoo was way ahead of Google, which only recently “got Web 2.0 religion.”

However perhaps the biggest story, in retrospect, is how inexpensive Flickr was for Yahoo given all the benefits the company has received. Reportedly the sale was in the $20 to $30 million range. Flickr was considering taking VC money at the time but instead felt the company would have a better home at Yahoo.

About The Author

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.